Rising house prices
The average price of a house in Northern Ireland increased by 1.4 per cent in Q4 of 2025, data shows.
The Northern Ireland House Price Index October to December 2025 (Quarter 4 2025), published by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), and the Land and Property Services on 18 February 2026, measures the change in price of residential properties sold in Northern Ireland. Stamp duty information on residential property sales as recorded by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is used to calculate the index.
The provisional results for Q4 2025, show that between Q3 and Q4, the house price index increased by 1.4 per cent from an index of 113.4 to 120.6. The data also shows that there was a 7.5 per cent increase in the index from Q4 in 2024, to Q4 2025, with the index now at 20.9 per cent higher than Q1 of 2023.
The average cost of a house in Northern Ireland rose to £195,936, an increase of 5.75 per cent (£10,614) from Q1 2025. The most expensive council area to buy a house is Lisburn and Castlereagh City with a standardised price of £231,628; followed by Ards and North Down at £221,690, and Newry, Mourne and Down at £218,595. The lowest prices in Northern Ireland, according to the index, were in Mid and East Antrim (£173,261), Derry City and Strabane (£177,589), and Belfast (£178,459).
Price per council area
The district that saw the highest percentage increase was Newry, Mourne and Down at 4.5 per cent. Fermanagh and Omagh was second with a percentage increase of 3.2 per cent with both Lisburn and Castlereagh and Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon having percentage increases of 2.7 per cent.
Every other local government district saw percentage changes increase apart from Ards and North Down and Derry City and Strabane, which saw slight decreases of 0.9 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively.
Comparison
Comparing house prices in Northern Ireland with England, Scotland, and Wales shows that prices in England are the highest, at an average cost of £291,865, compared to Northern Ireland’s £195,936. Wages also differ from the UK to Northern Ireland, with the average salary in Northern Ireland being £37,100 per annum, almost £2,000 lower than the UK equivalent of a median of £39,000.
The Republic has an average salary of approximately €52,198 (£45,287.18) per year, a difference of £8,187.18. Average house prices in Northern Ireland are £195,936, compared to the Republic’s average of €357,851 (£310,123).
Property type
Within Q4 2025, there were a reported 6,353 residential properties sold, making the total houses sold last year 23,998. Within the period, semi-detached houses were the most popular, accounting for 7,960 (32.6 per cent) of all houses sold. Detached houses were the second most popular at 7,087 (29.1 per cent), followed by terrace houses at 6,885 (29.5 per cent) with apartments making up the remaining 2,066 (8.8 per cent).
Alongside the reported houses sold, price increases were also reported, with detached properties rising by 1.5 per cent through Q4, to a standardised price of £304,672, semi-detached houses rising to 2.7 per cent to a price of £198,170, with both terrace houses (0.3 per cent) and apartments (0.2 per cent) also slightly increasing within the last quarter to standardised prices of £140,135, and £142,315.
The number of houses sold in 2025 is expected to rise however, after late season returns and new dwellings that were sold in this period being added to the valuation list after the quarter.
The sale of a new dwelling is defined as the first sale of a new property in the Northern Ireland valuation list. Any sale that does not meet this definition is then considered to be sales of existing resold homes. New dwellings’ sale prices increased by 7.8 per cent, with standardised prices rising to £253,602, whilst existing resold properties saw an increase of 1 per cent to £195,936, with annual increases in both new dwellings and existing resold housing being 7.9 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively.
Analysis
Northern Ireland has the highest Higher Price Index (HPI) in the UK according to data from the United Kingdom Land Registry, with a HPI of 120.6, Wales has a HPI of 106.5, Scotland has a HPI of 106.2, and England has a HPI of 103.6.
Comparing Northern Ireland to the Republic, however, shows that the Republic’s HPI is significantly higher, with the Q3 reports showing that the Republic HPI being at an index of 188.57, compared to Northern Ireland’s 120.6 index.
Comparing Belfast and Dublin, Belfast, has a standardised house price of £178,459 to Dublin’s £435,199 (€499,999) a difference of £256,740.
